This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jason A. Coombs: Uh yes, and how like they're kind of touchy and they're in their short shorts and Mark. It's giving heated rivalry. Like I watched it yesterday. I was like, I was like, they didn't base it off this a little bit. I love that. You need to for this episode, you need to post a cybers uh side of them and the heated rivalry guys, and that will go viral. Oh my god. Wow, I didn't think about that. You're so welcome back to Where the Light Lands with me, uh Jason A. Coombs. You know, we're gonna we're gonna dive in. We're gonna be I'm gonna use Mark, Mark J. Parker, my special guest today. But you know, one of the things I've love most about creating this new show is having the opportunity to sit down with artists and storytellers and creatives to talk about their journeys and moments that shaped them and and where the light has landed in their lives, right?

But also be able to spotlight things that I love personally, which of course is horror films, right? And community, and today is is no different. We're celebrating Pride Month, and we, me and Mark have kind of created this little discussion that we're gonna have today. So you know, we're gonna be talking from uh about slashers and psychological thrillers, but of course the queer and queer-coded characters in them. My special guest today is Mr. Mark J. Parker, a filmmaker, an actor, writer, fellow podcast host who hosts the podcast Release Date Rewind. Mark is someone who genuinely genuinely loves this genre, understands the history, fandom, and cultural impact. We're both scream girlies. I see the scream mask.

Or is it you said it's a tie? It's a if you'll see if you're watching, Ghostface has a little bow tie, a little sparkly bow tie. A friend made this for my wedding 10 years ago. It was part of a piñata. So the face stays with me even long after my marriage has ended. I love that. Me and uh dressed up Ghostface. I brought this with me to the theater to see Scream 7. So you best believe pictures with little you know bow tie ghost face. So there you go. You're gonna send me those pictures after all the men. Oh yeah.

[2:24] Mark J. Parker: Yes, yes, Mark. Thank you for having me, Jason. This is so fun. I'm I love chatting with you. You're a fellow creator, filmmaker, artist. So I already love that. And then you love this genre, like you said. So I am I'm in heaven right now. This is we I could talk about this. How long we got right? I know, right? Queer coded chaos, our favorite LGBTQ plus horror characters, right? Oh my gosh. But first, before we dive into that, Mark, I want to I want to hear about you. How are you doing in general? This is a crazy ass time we're living in, and yeah, what a question. Oh my god, what a question. Well, all right, therapist. I'm not in therapy right now, so sorry everyone. Oh boy. Um, no, how am I doing?

I think I'm doing all right, you know. I feel like hopefully we're all getting by. I personally feel like as a freelancer in our crazy world of entertainment, TV, film, all this stuff. Yeah, um, and it feels crazier than ever, like just sort of like more unknown than ever. Right. There's not a lot of jobs, and then sometimes there's a gig, and then how do you juggle? So uh and also I just feel like as I get older, I'm now 39. I feel like I definitely have undiagnosed ADHD. Um, so I'm like I've been saying that to my friends the past like year. I'm like, I feel like I gotta get diagnosed officially because it's wild. Okay, is it or is it actual ADHD? Honestly, it might be maybe getting older because I feel like our you know, our parents, our our elders and our families also can be a little scattered, right?

So I'm like, am I just kind of getting older and juggling the stupid stuff and the real stuff and I want to just do the stupid stuff? Or no, am I actually like you know, like some work is like piling up and I'm like, I'll get to it, I'll get to it. I'm like, wait, why have I not gotten to it? Because I need to do that, right? Yeah. So yeah, just juggling like how to still be an adult, which you would think by this age, we would we would know this like the back of our hand, but you know, well, you know, they lied to us about what being an adult is, so yes, right. I mean, ready for like the money, the house, the the good life, the white picket fence. Is that coming soon, right? No, but no, things are good.

I feel like right now, uh, I mean, obviously it's now Pride Month. I cannot believe we're already here. Whoa, May was a blink in in the past. I can't believe it, right? Right. So this is always at least a nice celebratory time. It's the start of summer. I'm sure it's warming up here in New England. I'm in New Hampshire, so it's warm today. I'm sure it's warm down there in Connecticut, New York, right? So that's always a nice uh push forward. I know I see the sun. I think the sun's like shining blue. Oh the sun is yeah, the sun is out, baby. I mean, New England, we things are my allergy. I'm just like, okay, well, things are blooming, trees are treeing. I'm like, okay, little by little trees, right?

Oh my gosh. I love that. I'm glad they were on the same wavelength because I'm I'm literally feeling feeling the same. Uh you feeling pulled in all directions, right? And I as I say this as you are like now have this other podcast because now you you now you host two podcasts, right? Yes, because I'm a psycho. I was gonna say, girl, how are you doing that on top of everything else on top of everything else? Also, on top of just like sitting, I don't know about you, everybody. I just kind of need to sit and zone out a lot more, and I'm not even talking with edibles. Yes, that too. I'm just talking sober. I'm just like all right. I did that one, I sent that one email that I should have sent a month ago.

Okay, well, I just need a break, I gotta sit and scroll, which also I think sucks a lot of our energy. I don't know about you, but I feel like I am on my phone more and more because it's just so fun and stupid, yeah, right. Right. Especially with podcasts, you know, all that good stuff. Well, you know, I just feel like I'd be needing the dopamine boost, you know. So send me some cat videos, send me the dog videos, you know, because I feel like we just need it, like and I you know, send me the funny, like I just need to laugh, I need to have some joy. So I do be scrolling, maybe feeling guilty, but you know, I know then I'm like, oh my god, I can't believe an hour has gone by. I shouldn't have even said that out loud, but right yeah, it's like the cute videos, it's like the workout videos of like pretty guys, it's also like knowing us, like random fun facts about old movies or whatever, and you're like, She was in what?

And then, like, I just go down the rabbit hole of like absolutely trivial knowledge that no one Reddit girly. Oh, I do like my Reddits. Oh yeah. Uh-huh. Not not as much as others. I feel like others are deep in the Reddit hole. Uh, but I go especially for like skincare or um all sorts of like other stuff. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I'm always googling. I have so many tabs open on all of my devices. Oh, Jason, everything's just going to like look in my mirror really quick. Like that is stuff when you're like, yeah, we're checking check. No, I'm I'm after I watch a movie. I have to do like you know, the the Reddit, I have to do the letterbox, like I just really have to do the deep dive. I'm like, who is this person?

Like, I just saw we're gonna talk about it. We're gonna talk, we will talk about newer horror films at the end. If you see anything, but um Mark, before we dive into our conversation, what does Pride Month kind of mean to you? Do you have any traditions? Do you celebrate Pride? I know not everybody does.

[7:28] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, not everyone does, right? No, I do. I as a young gay, I didn't really, I kind of like shied away from it. Like I lived in New York for uh 14 years. So in my early years, I wasn't really like out. I was still, you know, I was 19 when I moved to the city, so like I knew, but like I didn't really want to like, you know, yeah. But so those early years, I was kind of like uh and also just crowds and parking and like subway, you know, just like yeah, but um as I've gotten older, I've absolutely realized how important it is and how much fun and how much love and support. So yeah, I always try to go to at least one pride parade if I can. Luckily, where I am in New England, there's you know, one within an hour every weekend, which is nice, you know.

So I might not be able to hit them all, but I and and I used to when I was married, I used to um help my husband's candle company, and so we did a lot of events that had like vendors, and you know, we would make like a pride candle and everything. So yeah, so I'm I love to like get out and enjoy, and honestly, even like when a fun restaurant is doing like a pride night, like there's this great restaurant that does it near me, where it's just sort of decorations, the music's a little louder, it's not that different, but like just throwing out like some fun like beads. I don't know, it's New Orleans. I'm like, yeah, let's go. You know what I mean? So right, like little little easy things. I'm not really much of like uh I mean, I would love to go dancing, Jason.

I would love to go dancing, but where where do we dance? Do do people go out and dance anymore? Do you you know? You know, um, I think the last time I went out dancing, to be honest, I so I shot this movie in late 2022, 2023. And then me and a couple of the cast and our makeup artist, uh, that was our hair makeup girl. Uh, we kind of just went out, like after we wrapped, we're like, we're just gonna go out for a drink, yeah, have one drink, just like you know, celebrate this this like month-long process we've been through. Yeah, was the feature. The rooftop before. Okay. We ended up sort of we went first. We went to do uh it's long tangent, sorry, but first we just went to do an escape room.

They were like, we're gonna grab a drink, and then we're like, we're gonna go to 235th and grab some dinner. It ended up, we ended up at three other different bars that night. We ended up in in in the West Village. Oh we ended up having to like take Uber to my friend's house because he my castmate's house because he got a little bit too drunk. Like, yeah, it was a night, but there was dancing involved and lots too many drinks, too many drinks that night. Oh, you spent some money, but it sounds like it was worth it. And that was a couple years, that was a few years ago for you. I was in 2023. That's the last time I really think when I actually dance, like so funny that you say the West Village, because I feel like so many times the West Village ended up being a a stop on multiple stops in a night, right?

Like either you ended up there or it was in the middle of the night, right? Yeah, oh I love that. I think you're gonna be a night to remember. Oh, that's so fun. And your wallet is like, yeah, it was a night to remember. Don't even remind me. We know what the good thing, you know. I I was I got so intoxicated, Mark, that I even bought one of those pictures. You know how sometimes they have the camera person comes around, I was like, Do you guys want a photo? And they print it for you. My ass spent twenty dollars on a photo, which I still have. No, and I'm I'm I was just like, you know, it is what it is. Oh, it's a nice memory. Was it like a Polaroid? It just they printed they printed out right there for you.

It went to like the back. I don't, you know, I was really drunk, so yeah, you're like you did it, but it was not like big picture, which they're gonna do. Oh, that's cute. Oh, I probably do the same thing after a few drinks here. I I always get so generous, even after like one good glass of wine. I'm like, you know what? Yeah, let's buy you know what let's get five photos, you know. It's like yeah, right. Yeah, oh, I love that though. But yeah, I I haven't gone like dancing anywhere. And then you know, there's different places around, but they're more divey or they're more like karaoke. I'm like, no, I want to like I don't really want to talk. I want to like get down and jam out and like club.

Like back in the day, I know now this is not at all really what we're talking about. But when I lived in the city, I just want to rave everybody. I don't know if it's still around, I think it still is, but a friend went to Barnard, which is connected to Columbia College, right? Okay, yeah. And so at Barnard, they had what were called literary houses, literary societies. I don't know, some old Columbia, like kind of like it was basically I know it felt it felt a little culty. I was like, Where are we going? I'm into it. But I would go once a month. They they were allowed guests, and it was basically um an all gender frat or or like frat party. But it was it was just the best music. Oh my god, a a picture, no, a video I made of an old Calvin Harris song before he was like the Calvin Harris, yeah.

Popped up for me from like literally like what year is it? 2026. 26, maybe uh, I mean, this was like a good like maybe 18 years ago, but man, just getting sweaty and tipsy and on the floor and just dancing, nothing like sexual. I wasn't really that kind of guy, but like just dancing, like sweating out all of the week's problems or all the months' problems. And I just miss going to a place where, like, yeah, you could actually dance. It wasn't really like there was no cover, you know, not like a bar, like this was in like their fraternity house, but it was for men and women and all, you know. So anyway, I just have to, yeah. I love, I mean, that was that was New York City for me. I was like, yes.

Well, Mark, if you want to come to Bridgeport, we're having Bridgeport Pride on June 20th, and maybe have a fun after party, you know. I'm not sure how much dancing I'll be doing, but there is dancing there. We're always like DJ, you're like Mr. Bridgeport. You have the festival, you so you're are you like one of the organizers for Pride? Yeah, I'm on um, I've been on the executive board uh for the last couple of years, and I've been uh in charge of like the talent. I've been like booking talent and it's super fun. And I love giving back to my community. I love it. I just love this shit. I love talking to people, I love getting people together. Yeah, so you're a good you're a good gatherer, you know.

You're like I can I uh just from the festival and everything, like I know you're like a fellow, like great producer where you want to get good people together, let them all do the thing, right? Yeah, yeah. That's that's also another like great way to describe pride, is like getting people together, yeah, to just like meet, learn, appreciate each other, right? I mean it's about community at the end of the day, like seriously, it's about being there for each other, supporting each other, just being able to just you know show up and and be yourself and be accepted, you know. So yeah, anyway, as as we're talking about acceptance and community, um I have a question for you getting closer to our topic. Why does horror feel like such a welcoming space for so many queer people? Because I feel like it's it's a theme I've noticed. A lot of queer people love horror.

[14:09] Mark J. Parker: Oh, there is a major cross section between the horror community and the queer major. It's a great question because I I'm a queer horror filmmaker. Like there are there have been so many. I mean, in just in the horror genre alone over a hundred years, there have been so many queer people, whether they are involved in making the film, acting in the film, characters, whether they're outright queer or not, which we'll get into, of course. But um, I think a big thing, or at least one big thing, is the struggle, you know, in horror. Our lead characters are struggling to survive. So I just feel like naturally the queer community, which luckily, you know. Well, I was about to be optimistic and say, luckily, you know, better better nowadays than a few years ago, but I don't know.

[14:56] Mark J. Parker: Um, but we'll keep it light.

[14:58] Mark J. Parker: Um, but you know, better now than 50 years ago, you know, better now than even 20 years ago. You know, of course, there's still some absolute fools and jerks out there, but right um it's still a struggle, it's still a struggle for your rights, for your love, for your own self-acceptance, right? So that's how I kind of view it is like I think it's just a natural, innate, like deep down where we aren't even always thinking about it as queer people, just like survival, just like protecting ourselves from a possible bully or whatever, you know, at any age, and that is the killer or the ghost or the monster is trying to get you before you're fully even your full self or something, you know?

[15:40] Mark J. Parker: Facts. That's one one way to look at it, right? What do you what do you think?

[15:43] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, yeah, I mean, I agree. I just feel like you know, when you said about survival, I feel like the horror genre typically was kind of a now outsider genre, right? I feel like now it's becoming more it is so popular. It's so popular, like the you know, we could talk about it. But for years it was kind of like uh oh, of course.

[16:03] Mark J. Parker: Yeah.

[16:04] Jason A. Coombs: Well I mean you know what I think really changed horror to make it so huge was TV. I think it was American Horror Story and it was The Walking Dead.

[16:12] Mark J. Parker: Right.

[16:12] Jason A. Coombs: I think those shows those were gateway shows for people that for years good friends of mine were like, Oh no, I don't do horror. Like when Scream was huge years ago, 30 years ago, I was like, I have to see that movie. And people are like, Why would you ever, you know, now it's Scream 7, we know just had the biggest opening of any movie in the whole franchise, right? So horror is not even cool, horror is like general audience now, right?

[16:37] Mark J. Parker: Oh, yeah. So that's so that is cool to know that it has such interesting, queer roots and still has such queer um connections, and it is so kind of commonplace now. So that's cool, you know. But I do think we still need to see more queer characters in horror. And, you know, some of my films have, you know, some that I played at your film festival, some the queerness is front and center, it's very integral to the horror. And then some I also feel like they can just be queer and it has nothing to do with anything. You know what I mean? Like we can just have some queer people just enjoying being queer and maybe they get killed, maybe they don't, but their queerness has really nothing to do with the problem.

So I'm fine either way, but no matter what, I just feel like let's let's keep the queer thing going. Cause I feel like I saw maybe you did two recently, like and also with race with diversity. I feel like there was a report where like those diverse roles and those queer roles were like scaling back in the last year than what it was a couple years ago, probably because of the administration and you know.

[17:38] Mark J. Parker: So when I see that I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Right?

[17:41] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, yeah.

[17:41] Mark J. Parker: It's not woke to have a true representation of who is watching and loving this kind of storytelling. That's not you know what I mean. Like people like to say that. I'm like, no, no, that's that's a a mirror to who loves this stuff and also to the world.

[17:56] Jason A. Coombs: So right, preaching.

[17:59] Mark J. Parker: I love that. Thank you.

[18:00] Jason A. Coombs: Thank you.

[18:02] Mark J. Parker: So happy pride to all you haters.

[18:04] Jason A. Coombs: Right.

[18:05] Mark J. Parker: Happy pride to all the haters and the lovers.

[18:08] Jason A. Coombs: Yes.

[18:09] Mark J. Parker: Yes. Absolutely, definitely the lovers. But yeah, that's why I think it's all to me about about the struggle and this and the survival. I feel like that's why we love a final girl or any girl. There's right, you know, we love Helen Shivers, Sarah Michelle running in her dress and her bare feet. And it's like, you know, I think survive, girl, we gotta survive every single time. We're like rooting.

[18:28] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, and I don't know if it's deep enough where it's like, oh, I want to be her. I don't know. I don't know about that. Maybe with some queer people, right? But it's just this thing where it's like, oh, I also maybe don't feel like I have my armor on, right? And the very even when the killer or the ghost or whatever is female, it's still a more masculine or a more imposing energy than the more feminine kind of heroes, right? So I think maybe that's also what we see in ourselves is like maybe we're not looking at ourselves as strong opponents just yet, maybe, and so it's like will the good guy who maybe isn't as strong or as whatever make it, right?

[19:07] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, I think also that's just for storytelling. It's like the tension, right? So it's good storytelling, which us us queer bees, we love a good story, right? We need right, we need some drama, we need some tension. So I mean, hello, right?

[19:21] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah.

[19:23] Mark J. Parker: So Mark and I are going to share five each. You had you have five?

[19:27] Jason A. Coombs: I yeah, I I have a list.

[19:29] Mark J. Parker: Uh-huh. Come through, come through. Okay. Um, I gave him I gave Marcus prompt this week. So I wasn't sure if I would, you know, if I give him up time, but give me five minutes and I can come up with a good list like this. That's all right. Um, I'll just look at IMDB for like character names, but oh yeah, I got five.

[19:43] Mark J. Parker: Oh, yeah. We're gonna share five each of our favorite, either queer characters or queer-coded characters or important characters in the queer horror film history, you know. So, Mark, before we get into our five each, I figure we'd just alternate. But do you have any honorable mentions on your list that you wanted to share?

[20:02] Mark J. Parker: Absolutely do. I absolutely do. If I can if I can do a little shameless plug, some of the honorable mentions are my own short films that have queer characters. So I just want to say there's um pretty much in all of my shorts, you've seen some, Jason. There's always like an innate queerness because I'm queer, right? Some characters are outright gay or lesbian, some it's kind of vague, but you know they're not fully straight, right? But primarily, and it's so funny. I just got an email that I just remembered I need to respond to from like a week ago from some um one of the many great like gay themed websites and streamers out there that uh wanna wanna uh acquire some of my shorts for for streaming, which is so fun. But if you're in the mood for some gay horror, indie queer horror, there's family history, which which screened at the Bridgeport Film Festival. Thank you, Jason.

[20:46] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, thank you.

[22:47] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, they're all on YouTube. They're free to watch on you know, YouTube Vimeo. So, anyway, that's at least one honorable mention. I have another one, but I'm gonna do you have one. I'll go back and forth.

[22:47] Jason A. Coombs: Yes, was that the first one?

[22:47] Mark J. Parker: Wow. That was yeah, I'll never forget that movie was so fantastic.

[22:47] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, thank you.

[22:47] Mark J. Parker: I'm really proud of that one. Yeah, that one watched it now. Uh that's on YouTube, that's on Vimeo. So family history, it's uh very much kind of like how I was saying like gayness is at the center of that horror movie where a family is dealing with it and then it gets spooky and everything. So there's that. There's my other short twin, which is uh with queer women, because I feel like we just don't see enough queer women in horror. It's you know, um, and that one has really nothing to do with being queer. I just wanted a couple that happened to be gay, right? So two young women uh checking into a cute cottage that isn't so cute, dun ton dun. And then another one I'll shout out is your last summer, my um sequel, my fan film sequel to I know which you did last summer for its 25th anniversary.

And I thought, all right, I really want to do it because I honored Scream with a 25th anniversary film, uh, fan film, which I want to make another one, and I'm so glad we're gonna talk about some some gayness in that movie. You're gonna bring that up. Um yeah, I I wanted to follow that up with an I know fan film, and I had this idea where what if that note, I know, you know, is sent to a gay man in the closet, and he's with his like boyfriend who he should not be with. They have there's other, you know, there's girls in their lives, it is a secret. And what if someone knows their secret just as good old fisherman Ben Willis is back in town to wreak more havoc, so it's kind of like two separate stories merging into one.

So that's all I'll say, but uh very gay. I have to say, I'm so proud of my actors, and they're making out in their bathing suits on the beach. It is gay, honey. And I I remember one of the first comments I got on YouTube was oh, this is disgusting. And I just said, Well, you don't know, you don't have good, right? Thank you. All right, go watch your trash on some other page, right? But yes, it is I thought that was a badge of honor. I'm like, okay, that is a compliment. Yes, so all those.

[22:55] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, okay, yeah. Or unless you want me to go with my other one, up to you.

[23:00] Mark J. Parker: No, we can do we can yeah, we can we can do back and forth. I like that. I think it makes it.

[23:05] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah.

[23:05] Mark J. Parker: So I wanted to include um the film Candyman from 2021, which was the requel reboot. Are we still using those words?

[23:15] Jason A. Coombs: I think so.

[23:16] Mark J. Parker: I would say that was like a well, or a Lega sequel.

[23:19] Jason A. Coombs: Legacy sequel.

[23:20] Mark J. Parker: I kind of like that one because it like skips a little bit in the middle and just goes directly to the first one. Requir reboot is not a good word, I feel like. Requel is a funny word that kind of makes you roll your eyes.

[23:31] Jason A. Coombs: Well, I don't know, legacy sequel, leg a sequel.

[23:34] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, I kind of like that, right? Okay, yeah. Maybe and I remember that was the first movie that I saw um back to the theaters, like during the pandemic. I was like, oh my gosh, the trailer looks so good. I was so excited for it. Um, but there's two characters in that film, and there might be a small spoiler, no, no major spoilers, but I just wanted to say that um, you know, the the female protagonist has a brother who's happens to be gay and has a partner, and those characters are just like you said, they're just gay characters. There's nothing about like them having to like there's no plight that they have to face. There's like nothing like that's extraordinary circumstances around their fairness. We're just characters who are like in a loving relationship, and a small spoiler alert is that they actually survive the film, which I which is yeah, you know, not always the case, especially even when we were growing up in the 90s and 2000s.

[24:29] Jason A. Coombs: I mean, yeah, some of the fun gay characters were were dispatched pretty quickly, or you know, like they they have they were the gay sidekick and then off they go.

[24:37] Mark J. Parker: Off they go, right. They're not you know, they're not treated like you know, a warning signs, they're not disposable. Uh Trey, which is the brother, I can't remember the female character's name, but you know, he kind of oh yeah, yes, yeah. They kind of like they kind of peep what's happening, you know.

[24:53] Jason A. Coombs: So they're smart, they're intelligent.

[24:55] Mark J. Parker: Yes, I just remember seeing that, and also like you know, they're they're a black and brown uh couple, which is their representation. I just you know I love so much. So I want to shout them out.

[25:03] Jason A. Coombs: Troy and Grady are their news, yes.

[25:06] Mark J. Parker: I'm looking at the picture of them. Yes, you're so right, because they I remember now that was a good sequel. I've only seen it once, but I'm I'm overthree to watch it again. But I see this picture of them, and yeah, they are kind of like the voice of reason. They're kind of like, wait a minute, what are you getting into?

[25:21] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, they know the lore or Trey Trey Trey knows the lore or Troy knows the lore.

[25:26] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, and yeah, and also they add some they're also add some humor to the storyline. There's like a lot of warmth, you know. They seem like they seem like they could be my friends. That's why I think I really resonate. They seem like people I would know. Very natural, very relatable.

[25:40] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, yeah. Okay. You're your next honorable.

[25:44] Mark J. Parker: My only other honorable, I have a long list here, but the one I'll I'll talk about the most for my second honorable mention and my last one. I just watched, I rewatched Scary Movie 2 last night, but I have to just give a shout-out because the new scary movie's about to come out, right? Yeah, I just want to give a shout-out. I know it's not horror. I mean, it's a spoof, right? Those both movies are so dumb and fun. Maybe they count as horror, some kind of horror comedy horror comedy, right? Yeah, they're pretty gross, you know, and not really scary, but you know, but I've always loved that franchise. It's so much fun. And I rewatched Scary Movie 2 for the first time in decades. It had been a long time. But I just want to give a little shout out to the character Ray in the scary movie movies, at least one, two, and now six that's about to drop.

[26:25] Jason A. Coombs: Um that is okay. Wait, that's not which way in's brother is that that is Sean.

[26:30] Mark J. Parker: Sean Wayans. That's Sean. Yeah, right. Okay. I always because then there's Keenan who directed. I'm like, wait, I always have to like think twice with my of them. There's like so many. There's Samon Wayans Jr. who I love, and now I'm like, wait, is that waiting? Okay, right. I always have to like think. But yes, I just want to give a shout-out to Sean Wayans as gay Ray. Um, so friggin' funny, you know, as Regina Hall's uh Brenda's uh boyfriend, but like she's always looking at him like, what did you say? You know, and I had forgotten that even in scary movie two, you know, he's still very gay, dropping hints, like they do a spoof moment of dude where's my car with their like tattoos on the colour.

[27:08] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, the tattoo on their back, yeah.

[27:10] Mark J. Parker: Completely forgot about that. And then it sounds like you know, in the trailer, you know, um, one of the characters says, We're gonna come in and do half gay things, and then he shows up. I think in his Mason goodding, like cowboy costume from Scream Six, and he's like, Ryan only half gay. So I'm like, Oh, okay, we're gonna gay Ray is still very gay, good. So I just want to shout him out because um, yeah, I just love that in these very popular, hugely successful horror comedy spoofs, we get a very gay character. It's not just like hint hint. I mean, I mean, he's gay, so you know. I just love the the ending of scary movie one, where like you know, the it's the killer reveal and like it's him and and like Billy, and you know, just like, but wait, you said you loved me. And he's like, I just wanted to get into the clerk, you know, whatever like whatever he said, but he's like, I ain't gay, you know, it's just so great. And also he's he was so such a babe. Oh my god.

[28:04] Jason A. Coombs: Thank you.

[28:05] Mark J. Parker: Thank you, Ray. Thank you, Sean Wayans. Just wanted to give him a shout-out.

[28:09] Jason A. Coombs: Love that.

[28:09] Mark J. Parker: Oh, that's good. I mean, we gotta talk about the new one when it comes out. I mean, I know when this episode yeah, it's already be out. Yeah, yeah. But uh I hope it's good. We'll see.

[28:15] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, yeah.

[28:20] Mark J. Parker: Yes. Oh, I love that. Well, let's dive in. Let's dive into our our lists. Our our our main, the main attraction.

[28:28] Jason A. Coombs: Yes, I'm so excited. Who do you have for number and I'm going first?

[28:33] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, I want you to go first. But did you rank you give these like a ranking? Or just I didn't really give them a ranking.

[28:36] Jason A. Coombs: Are yours ranked?

[28:39] Mark J. Parker: Okay. Not really.

[28:40] Jason A. Coombs: Not really.

[28:40] Mark J. Parker: Okay, yeah. I mean, my number one's probably yeah, yeah. I think I think like we'll each have some choices that are like the big ones. No, I didn't really rank just because you know, equality.

[28:52] Jason A. Coombs: Equality, maybe it's Pride Month, equality, right? But okay, so I'll I'll do my first one. So, one of the gayest, most intense horror movies. I saw this in the theater. I talked about it on my friend's podcast last year for its 20th anniversary. A French horror film, and you know those those French do not mess around. I was almost gonna curse, but I'll I'll be on my best behavior. Um high tension. Did you ever see High Tension, Jason?

[29:41] Mark J. Parker: It's extreme. French horror. If you're listening and you like horror, you probably know French horror is extreme, bloody, gory, like in your face. But just want to shout out the lead actresses are a queer couple, lesbian couple. Okay, um, very much very it's not implied. They are a couple, they are on their way to one of the women's family farmhouse for a little weekend getaway. Oh, okay. And in comes a really scary, really psycho intruder slasher, and it's brutal. And then that slasher kidnaps the daughter of the family's whose house it is, right? And so then our lead, our lead heroine is a pretty, you know. I don't know if she is queer in real life, this actress. Let me look up her name. But um, at least the way she is uh the way she looks, she's so stinking cute, but very short hair, very um tough, right?

Um, you know, some people might jokingly lovingly say, like kind of dikey energy, right? Well, whereas her girlfriend who's been kidnapped, more feminine long hair, you know, like kind of when you think of those kind of stereotypes. But um, yes, she is on a mission to try to get her girlfriend back, but also not die. There's a lot of good cat mouse. There's a very polarizing ending. So I'm very excited for you, Jason, to check it out sometime. It is gnarly, high tension, it is so tense. It is so tense. That first scene, you'll have to text me and be like, oh my god, Mark, what am I watching? The first scene, I'm like, um, but yeah, it's very gay. They even um actually I don't I won't do too many spoilers, but our lead actress, I think for whatever reason, I can't remember right now why, but our couple sleeps in separate rooms in this house.

Might just be like, you know, family, it's kind of weird, right? Some couples do that. But so our main girl, the the uh more uh butch one whose character is uh Marie, played by Cecile De France. So she's done a lot. Um she's like masturbating and thinking of her girlfriend, and and then as she's kind of really enjoying her own queer sexuality, that's then ding dong, someone's at the door. So that's all I'll say. But yeah, it's very, very gay, very horrific. So high tension is my choice.

[31:53] Jason A. Coombs: I am so excited for this, Mark. Check it out.

[31:55] Mark J. Parker: The same director, Alejandra Ajah, I believe is how you say his name. He went on to do like the Hills Have Eyes remake, which that was brutal. That was really that was so scary. That was so scary. Yeah, he did that. He did the piranha remake, which was bloody but fun. Um, he's done some things. You've seen some of his work. He just did a few years ago, Crawl, that fun, like killer alligators in like New Orleans or something, where it's like you know, flooding. So anyway, um, yeah, uh definitely high tension is a a very queer, very scary movie. So I get an education today. I'm so excited about it.

[32:26] Jason A. Coombs: Oh yes.

[32:27] Mark J. Parker: Um, okay, so my my first one. Uh I'm gonna I'm gonna put in so I don't like this character to be honest, because I think she's so mean, but I love the movies and I love the performance by Mia Gaw playing the character of Pearl. And I I am gonna put X and Pearl. Um, she she's in Mia Golf is in all three, but the character of Pearl is an ex in the film Pearl. Yeah, and for those who don't know, I'm not gonna try to try not to get too many too many too many spoilers, but in X, the character of Pearl is a much older woman in her her 70s, 80s, 90s. She's old. She's old, baby, right? 90s, yeah, because I think Pearl takes takes in 1922, right? Right, and she and then and then X was in the 70s, am I right? 80s, maybe? Yeah.

[33:18] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah.

[33:18] Mark J. Parker: Like the late 70s. Not current. Because oh, yeah, 70s, because then Maxine was more 80s, right? 80s, right? Yeah, um, but this character of Pearl, you know, she is not, you know, not written to be queer, I don't think. She has a husband. Um, Howard, who she clearly loves very much, but I feel like her appeal comes from like just her her her struggle, right? She's she wants to be a star in in Pearl. I'm kind of mixed up the two films right now because they're you know, they're you're kind of co-hand in hand. Oh, yeah. But she's trying to be a star. She's uh she just dreams of this life that she wants to get out of her like her small town, which I feel like a lot of queer people can relate to.

[34:01] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, definitely, right?

[34:03] Mark J. Parker: And uh, and I don't want to put this in a way that is a stereotype, but she's obviously a very sexual woman in both films. But in X, I feel like when she meets the character of Maxine, there is some kind of sexual tension there. And then I was gonna ask you this question like what did you think? Do you think it's a more of a she is into Maxine? Because Maxine's such a gorgeous woman who she sees uh, you know, has interest in, possibly, or do you think it's uh more of a I want to be this girl? Like she reminds me of the girl I once was, or the girl who I wish I could have been, you know. So like what do you think? What do you think?

[34:43] Jason A. Coombs: I love that it's kind of vague.

[34:44] Mark J. Parker: It's uh I love that they leave it open for this, right? And I feel like a lot of straight men feel this sometimes when it's like maybe they aren't gay, maybe they really are straight, but they still are so kind of taken by another man because it's like it's kind of like that whole thing of like, wait, am I into you or do I want to be you? Like, yeah, you know, like it's that thing that I think a lot of us kind of wonder sometimes, you know.

[35:08] Jason A. Coombs: Right.

[35:08] Mark J. Parker: I sort of took it as she was. I got the vibe she, and especially now seeing Pearl. I do think she is straight, but I so I think I think she just saw something in Maxine that was so like easily sexy, like she made it look easy and she missed her own sex her own sexualness, and and maybe and you know, years of maybe like repression or just kind of pushing it to the side, and so just kind of being so overwhelmed by this woman's blatant sexuality, you know. That like she had to touch her, she had to kind of like take her just to almost kind of feel that energy. I don't know if it was necessarily like, oh, I I'm into you. I think it was just like, man, I'm kind of jealous of you.

[35:53] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, I I want what you have kind of that thing.

[35:57] Mark J. Parker: I think. What do you do? Is that what you think too? Or do you feel like it was more like an actual attraction?

[36:01] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, I think it could be a bit of both, honestly. I feel like you know, I feel like just because of the time that she grew up in, right in the 1920s, 1930s, there was no way to be out, right?

[36:14] Mark J. Parker: So to show your desired your desires if you had any same thing.

[36:17] Jason A. Coombs: Especially where she lived, right?

[36:18] Mark J. Parker: And like the farm, you know, yeah.

[36:20] Jason A. Coombs: She like in Texas, right? I think right, and she's got that strict mom, and let's just like you know, right.

[36:27] Mark J. Parker: So I I interpret it as maybe like a mix of both, right? Where she kind of has a desire, she's a sexual person, as we know. She has these desires, but she can't like outlive, she can't live those, she can't live out loud.

[36:38] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, and she wants to be a star, right?

[36:42] Mark J. Parker: She loves that, she wants that glamour, she wants that light. She's such an interesting character played, also be by Mia Gop. And I like I you know, I I think that she's mean because of what she does, and and you know, makes me but I I still root for her in a way, you know. So I'm still like always like torn while watching, I'm like, oh I hate her so much, but I'm also like that's my girl. Like, oh my gosh, especially you know, that big monologue that she does in Pearl, which you know, it's fantastic acting, what a performance, right? And that smile at the end where she throughout the crowd, I mean, like she was excellent, she's excellent all the time, Mia Goth, but especially I feel like Pearl is one of like the pinnacles of what she can do, especially that one, yeah, right.

[37:25] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, and is she cool? Did she co-write that script too?

[37:29] Mark J. Parker: She did, yeah. They apparently wrote, if I remember correctly, when they were shooting X, because that was at the height of COVID, so they were like in a hotel sequestered. She and the writer director Ty West, I guess were coming up with backstory for Pearl as just like an exercise, just to kind of understand her more. And then they were like, wait, we have so many things here, let's just and I think they they shot it like right after X wraps. They just were like, I I forget who it was maybe. Yeah, I think they were just like, Hey, studio, we have an idea for a prequel that is very still very like um small, but kind of budget, like very uh intimate, you know, and I think they were just like cool. And then so I mean, isn't that the dream just to be like, hey, actually, let's just like stay here for like another month and like keep shooting and the studio sending us money, so right?

[38:19] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, right, right.

[38:20] Mark J. Parker: That trilogy is so interesting. I missed Pearl in Maxine because from what I remember, oh yeah, I've seen it once. I maybe we saw Maxine briefly, like in a flashback or in a kind of hallucination, but I just I missed her, right? Because you know, I don't want to say anything, but right now she was she's not really in that one, and um yeah, I just kind of I wanted to see a creepy old lady again, you know.

[38:40] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, yeah.

[38:42] Mark J. Parker: All right, what's your what's your next one?

[38:44] Jason A. Coombs: Okay, next one is all right.

[38:47] Mark J. Parker: Let's see. I have a few different options. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna stay with um we're doing like queer women, so I'm gonna just stay with the ladies right now before we move over to the guys. I'm gonna talk about a movie that is so memorable for me, but I feel like it was still very under the radar. It's another indie called What Keeps You Alive. Have you heard of this one, Jason?

[39:07] Jason A. Coombs: No, Mark. You're really giving me an education today.

[39:08] Mark J. Parker: What yeah? Well, hey, I'm happy to educate, I'm happy to teach teach the the the gay youth, right? So what keeps you alive, I highly recommend everybody. Right now, according to IMTB, it says it's on AMC Plus, so it might be on AMC Plus and Shudder. Check it out if you have it. Indie, I'm sure the budget was definitely not more than a million. It's pretty intimate, but it's um a very good queer survival thriller horror about a uh a gay couple, a lesbian couple. They go to the uh like like many of us do, they go for their one year anniversary to the woods for a nice romantic getaway, and not everything in this relationship is as it seems. And I don't know, I think one of the actresses really is queer, maybe, but the actresses, in case anyone out there knows them.

Hannah Emily Anderson plays Jackie and Brittany Allen plays Jules. You might have seen them in other things. Britney Allen was in The Boys, um, Hannah was in, let's see, what else has she? Jigsaw, X-Men Dark Phoenix. Oh, they've over Silent Hill. I think that just came out earlier this year. I love Silent Hill, but I feel like every sequel is always like not good. Um, anyway, that's a different topic. But yes, so a couple you you might recognize a couple faces, um, some supporting players as well, but it's very indie, written and directed by Colin Minahan, I believe is his name, who he's done other some other um horror things, but it's a it's just a great, twisty, very indie kind of film. Not many characters, not many locations, and I love a survival thriller.

Like, you know, um it's not queer at all, but um, I do love that some queer icons are in it. Um, Charleese and Taryn uh Edgerton Egerton, um they're in that new Apex movie that's on Netflix. You've seen it?

[40:55] Jason A. Coombs: I yes, did you see it then?

[40:56] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, no, check it out. But I love that kind of movie. I love a woodsy survival thriller, someone's chasing the other. How the hell are they gonna swim and climb? And oh my god, I love it. You know, like wrong turn. Like I love that original wrong turn with Eliza Douchku because it's it's a gross horror movie, but it's also a great woodsy survival movie, you know. So, what keeps you alive is a really good, very queer, you know. This couple thought they were something and now they're different, and how will they survive?

[41:24] Jason A. Coombs: Right.

[41:25] Mark J. Parker: Good, yeah. Yeah, it really it really goes it hand in hand with secrets, how queer people, many people queer people, not all, but depending on where you live, your family, your your circle, you know, how you hold on to a secret. So it plays into that, and how some secrets are dark, some should come to light, and some you never want ever to come to light, you know. So yeah, yeah. Check it out. What keeps you alive? I uh whenever I think of like queer horror, even though it's only from 2018, it's not like I would say a classic, but it's one of the ones that comes up for me right away.

[41:59] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah.

[42:00] Mark J. Parker: Love it. I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna go back far, far, far, far, far. Let's do it. Uh, we're going back to 1960 with Psycho.

[42:09] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, I'm so happy you have Psycho on your list.

[42:12] Mark J. Parker: Oh, I think I'd have to, right? I think you have to for multiple reasons, but you you tell us why.

[42:17] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, well, I want to just want to preface this before we you know dive into I think we just have to acknowledge just because the world that we live in, right? It's a it's uh Norman Bates is a complicated character.

[42:28] Mark J. Parker: So Norman Bates is the character that I chose from Psycho. Um and you know, conversations about him should not be used to like reinforce anything harmful about LGBTQ plus people or transgender people, like you know, there's all that garbage, you know. We don't have to go into like details we all know, but um you know I I was reading just some things about you know, the Hayes Code, right? Which was like this uh this motion picture kind of right uh restrictions that were given now back in like the 1930s, up until like probably close to the 70s, if not the 70s.

[43:03] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, not all that long ago, right?

[43:05] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, yeah, it was just insane, but like you know, they you couldn't really have queer characters, you know. So a lot of filmmakers, a lot of the writers wrote characters that were more queer-coded, and supposedly Nick Norman Bates is one of those characters that's like that was kind of written or maybe um developed to be, you know, had that kind of undercurrent of of queerness, you know, right. Um, and we all know you know, Mr. Perkins, Anthony Perkins, was a queer man in real life, you know, in in real life.

[43:37] Jason A. Coombs: So um, you know, I just thought he is an important person to share.

[43:44] Mark J. Parker: Uh this character is of course influential to the modern day slasher, you know.

[43:51] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, absolutely.

[43:52] Mark J. Parker: Psycho is so psycho has an influence on uh some of my films for sure. Like one I just shot in February is basically like a new version of Psycho. Like, yeah, I sometimes forget how strong of a movie that is and how it has absolutely influenced so many other things, right? Have you have you have you watched it recently?

[44:11] Jason A. Coombs: Um I talked about on my podcast uh a little over five years ago for its 60th. So it's been a little you know what I'm lying, I'm lying, Jason. Yes, I just saw it because I went to the theater close by in a gunquit Main, very gay town. If you haven't been, oh my god, Jason, come up here and let's party in a gunquit. That'd be so much fun. It's a beautiful beach town, very queer. But at the beautiful 100-year-old theater in town, the Levitt Theater, they were showing Psycho on the big screen, and I realized I had never I've seen it a bunch, but always at home.

[44:38] Mark J. Parker: So I've never seen it on the big screen. So I went, got a glass of wine. I think I got a grilled cheese, and I was like, Yes, Janet Lee, Anthony Perkins, yes. Just come through, come through. I love that. So yeah, I just saw that back in the fall.

[44:50] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, you yeah, I've seen it in the big screen on the big screen on the big screen. Yeah, try to see it anytime when it's playing. It's just it looks so good. It really does look so good, you know.

[44:59] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, yeah. You know, but Norman, he kind of exists outside of traditional expectations of like masculinity in the film, you know, explores repression, right? And duality and Norman's living with a secret and hidden identity. And I mean, if you haven't seen this movie, I don't know where you've been. Right, it's right 65 plus years old, but uh, you know, there's a big twist at the end, it was is what people say. And if you don't know, you should pause this podcast, you should watch it, and then you should come back to the podcast.

[45:31] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, and it's very it's oh, it's such an if you don't know the ending. I mean, how are you? Like, are you okay? Are you with us? Um, but yeah, without saying too much, it's just also yeah, interesting, like what you were saying with your really good disclaimer that like, yeah, the the surprise ending is queer in itself, but of course it's um it's problematic, of course, right?

[45:55] Mark J. Parker: Right, but yeah, that whole story is queer and interesting, and it's just so interesting that they had a gay actor who I believe at the time Anthony Perkins was not out. I don't think he was out. I think he was married to a woman at the time, you know. Um but he was so and I still have never seen some of the sequels, but I know people love like Psycho 2 3. Um just also the the really interesting weird story that the sequels and that show Bates Motel play into with like Bates Motel.

[46:25] Jason A. Coombs: I liked Bates Motel. Did you like it?

[46:26] Mark J. Parker: I love yeah, I loved it. I know.

[46:30] Jason A. Coombs: And you do need to watch it.

[46:31] Mark J. Parker: Oh yeah, try to watch that whenever you I mean it's so hard because there's so much to watch. But so did you not see I think the last season is when Rihanna comes in after the first time.

[46:37] Jason A. Coombs: I heard that she plays the Marion Crane.

[46:39] Mark J. Parker: She was a big fan of the show. I love that, but um, yeah, just also the it's just a very interesting story, and then the whole mom-son, you know, uh crossing a line, kind of weird relationship, and yeah, but because of Anthony Perkins, my next gay horror short that I wrote that I was hoping to maybe shoot this summer, but who knows? Um one of the characters is named Anthony because of Anthony Perkins.

[47:03] Mark J. Parker: So I like to do that sometimes, like honor, you know, a character or a person in horror, and since they're gay characters, I was like, I gotta name them Anthony. And the other person is Kevin for Kevin Williamson, a gay filmmaker, writer.

[47:15] Jason A. Coombs: So he's influenced, obviously, by Psycho as well.

[47:18] Mark J. Parker: Of course, yes. Yes, cool. What's your next one?

[47:22] Jason A. Coombs: Okay, my next one. Oh gosh, I have so many. I think I'm gonna okay. I'm gonna go with one. Okay, hold on. Let me look. I have my list. I'm gonna go.

[47:31] Mark J. Parker: Don't worry, Mark. We can do a part two of this if we need to.

[47:34] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, well, now we're talking. Oh my god, I love that.

[47:37] Mark J. Parker: Okay, well, I oh, and you know what? Real quick, if I can piggyback off Psycho, this isn't one of my picks, but another um really great. I love this slasher so much, but it is very problematic. So I don't obviously like support the reveal. But if anyone out there wants to see a simple oh, sleep there is sleepaway camp.

[47:57] Jason A. Coombs: I wasn't even sure about that one.

[47:58] Mark J. Parker: Um, I actually need to see that again. It's been so long that I kind of don't I don't know it well enough. But no, an 80s movie, a different 80s movie called Dress to Kill. Did you ever see Dress to Kill?

[48:07] Jason A. Coombs: No, Brian De Palma, really great slasher.

[48:11] Mark J. Parker: It's not very queer at all, but I'm just throwing that out there because it was on my list to possibly talk about it's a great scary thriller, but it is problematic for similar reasons to Psycho. So I thought that's just kind of a sort of like an offshoot of a queer horror discussion where you know you kind of want to shine a light on movies that are really really good, but it was made in a different time, you know what I mean?

[48:36] Jason A. Coombs: Yes, yes.

[48:37] Mark J. Parker: Um, but no, my pick, I'm gonna go with the 2022 remake reboot requel. Uh I whatever. I guess it was a remake of Hellraiser.

[48:49] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, yeah, Straight to Helo Straight to Homer.

[48:52] Mark J. Parker: I'm so bad. Oh wow, okay. Wow. Well, I know I love this. I love that you have great like classic, whether new or old movies that I've seen, and I love that I'm because hopefully I'm enlightening some others that are listening.

[49:03] Jason A. Coombs: But reminding me, Hellraiser was popular, so you you definitely should check that out.

[49:07] Mark J. Parker: It was scary. I don't love that franchise, it's a little too gross for me in general. Scary for me as a kid. Like, I think I was like, Oh, oh yeah, pinhead was freaky.

[49:12] Jason A. Coombs: Oh yeah.

[49:15] Mark J. Parker: Like I loved Freddie. Um, but Freddie was also, especially in the sequels, kind of funny. So there was some good comedic relief. Hellraiser, there's no comedy.

[49:24] Jason A. Coombs: Oh my god, Hellraiser is just brutal and uh bodies and skin and hooks, and I'm just like, ugh. So it's not really my cup of tea, but I did really enjoy the sequel. It is kind of gross, but um not too much. And great actors like Odessa Azion, I believe is her name.

[49:41] Mark J. Parker: She just was nominated for the Oscar for lead girl. She's our yeah, I have to watch it that kind of thing.

[49:47] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, yeah.

[49:47] Mark J. Parker: This was as she was on the rise. So this was before she was everyone, you know, knows her. But yeah, Hellraiser um has some prominent queer characters. And because Hellraiser, the franchise in general, has also been about sex and about like sin and you know, and skin and how like pinhead and these cenobites, like, you know, crave like kind of like I don't see.

[50:12] Jason A. Coombs: I don't know the franchise well enough to really put this into words.

[50:14] Mark J. Parker: So some people will be like, Mark's doing a bad job explaining this, but because it's sort of like blood and guts, but also like sexy stuff, it's like right, it's a weird hand in hand of like of pleasure and pain.

[50:27] Jason A. Coombs: That's what Pinhead is always seeking.

[50:29] Mark J. Parker: How like some pain is pleasure? So there's always like a little bit or a lot of bit of sex, but in this new one, we see Brandon Flynn, what a hottie, you know, and um his boyfriend.

[50:41] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, Brandon Flynn plays her brother.

[50:43] Mark J. Parker: Mm-hmm. I'm gonna have to watch this comedy role. You gotta watch it. Seriously, ring in pride with Hellraiser.

[50:48] Jason A. Coombs: I would love to rewatch it because it is good.

[50:49] Mark J. Parker: And also, we have to just say that Pinhead in the new one was played by a trans actress, Jamie Clayton. So and they didn't call her Pinhead, even though she is, they called her the priest.

[50:59] Jason A. Coombs: Maybe I think because that might have been more in line with the original book from Clive Barker.

[51:04] Mark J. Parker: Never read it, but you know, Pinhead was sort of the age of Freddie and Jason, you know. So um just want to shout out, you know, since it is Pride, like first time a trans woman really has played a prominent uh slasher, you know.

[51:19] Jason A. Coombs: I love that, yeah.

[51:20] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, so we have we have a gay supporting couple that are very much in the film throughout, play very important roles. Brandon Flynn plays Matt, Adam Fazon. If you don't know his name, you know his face, he's popped up and things. He plays Colin.

[51:31] Jason A. Coombs: But yeah, uh Matt is our lead character, Riley's brother, who she learns about this other world through him because he's gotten into some things and he's taken that's all I'll say.

[51:45] Mark J. Parker: And so he's sort of our catalyst into this dark world of the Cenobites. But um, and then Colin, his boyfriend plays, yeah, prominent role throughout the whole thing. So gay characters are very much uh throughout this whole story, but also they are so sexy, like it's kind of I don't want to be a hater, um, because I do really like it, but it's kind of silly where like a really I mean it's hot, but I'm also I don't know, maybe I'm gay that way where I'm like, oh yes, but also come on, we're like they're in bed together after you know, like having some fun, and the blanket is just strategically placed right at their like waist, where like any lower we'd start to see some things, right?

[52:23] Jason A. Coombs: And then Brandon Quinn's got his arms up, and I'm just like, okay, I don't know how many people actually sleep like that, but at the same time, thank you, right?

[52:30] Mark J. Parker: So it's very gay. Very gay. Um, but yeah, so you see them in bed together. He's great actor. It's so funny, Jason. I met him years ago when I called him in for a what would you do audition.

[52:41] Jason A. Coombs: But and I we wanted to offer it to him as a as a bully um in a down syndrome segment.

[52:46] Mark J. Parker: Um so really dark stuff, you know. Like he was gonna be the villain, he was gonna get yelled at by the public, right? And I remember reaching out to his manager at the time.

[52:54] Jason A. Coombs: This was before 13 Reasons Why, right?

[52:56] Mark J. Parker: So it's so funny, and he was such a cutie. I was like, Oh, we like him. Like, let's book him. He was good. And his manager was like, you know what? He said that was a really difficult audition, and he doesn't want to take this on. And I totally get it, you know.

[53:08] Jason A. Coombs: It's some of those hard roles.

[53:10] Mark J. Parker: I mean, in when you're doing that show, you know, camera, people think you really are a total asshole, you know.

[53:17] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, I was gonna let people know, like Mark, you were the casting director.

[53:20] Mark J. Parker: Yeah.

[53:21] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, it hasn't been on in a couple years. I don't know if it's over, you know, it kind of comes back every now and then when they need no no offense to my show, but when they need like something to fill a hole, they're like, All right, let's bring back what would you do? You know, it's kind of like I love that show.

[53:35] Mark J. Parker: I love it.

[53:36] Jason A. Coombs: Like, you know, we did some cool stuff a couple years ago the last time it aired.

[53:39] Mark J. Parker: But yeah, whenever it's on, I'm they I get to cast all those actors and I improv with them in the auditions, and uh yeah, I've been I think I worked on nine seasons total so far.

[53:48] Jason A. Coombs: So, but yeah, back in. I want to say, honestly, Jason, it might have been like 10 years ago already.

[53:52] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, I still have his audition video somewhere, but uh yeah, so Brandon Flynn, what a cutie, and then his boyfriend is played by Adam Fais on another real cute actor, and um it's not like they're just like it's not like they're in uh remember Hollow.

[54:05] Jason A. Coombs: Did you see Halloween Kills, the second one in the new trilogy?

[54:09] Mark J. Parker: Not a great movie, and that gay couple was distractingly annoying, right? It's not like that. They are prominent, they are realistic, they are yeah, not for laughs, not for sass.

[54:21] Jason A. Coombs: Um I hated that couple.

[54:22] Mark J. Parker: I mean, uh, it was nice to see some representation, but it was such a joke in that movie. That would be my fifth four most annoying queer horror moment was that because it's like I'd rather you just didn't have them at all, right?

[54:34] Jason A. Coombs: Right.

[54:35] Mark J. Parker: No true. Like I was gonna bring that up when I was talking about the Candyman sequel as as uh as the parallel to because that couple was so unrealistic, I feel like that was like horribly written.

[54:46] Jason A. Coombs: And they yeah, they just really I was kind of offended.

[54:50] Mark J. Parker: I mean, it's still it's a Halloween movie, whatever, but I was just kind of like, yeah, yeah, truly. I was like, I'd rather you just didn't put gay people in this movie, then you know what I mean?

[54:58] Jason A. Coombs: Right.

[54:59] Mark J. Parker: So this is the the Hellraiser couple, not like that at all, like very, very relatable, very attractive, and uh yeah, they they got lots of interesting things to do. Check it out, Jason. I think you'd like to.

[55:08] Jason A. Coombs: I may have to watch tonight. You gave me two of my favorites of the moment, so yeah, but keeping on the the Hellraiser, the Michael Myers that we just talked about very briefly, uh train. We're gonna jump to a nightmare on Elm Street Part 2, Freddy's revenge.

[55:24] Mark J. Parker: Yes, yes, yes, which is a film that I never saw until I was older.

[55:29] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, like I feel like so. Freddy was always so scary to me as a kid, like frightening to me, frightening.

[55:35] Mark J. Parker: And I remember watching the first one when I was like in high school and like loving it, but I never rewatched the sequels until I got to like when I was like an adult, and I really like started really gravitating to horror.

[55:46] Jason A. Coombs: And I remember like watching this movie and thinking this character is straight.

[55:53] Mark J. Parker: It was like and then learning the discourse around it. So this is probably the most uh queer coded in modern, right? If you want to call like from an 80s modern uh character, like of all time.

[56:09] Jason A. Coombs: I know there's a documentary about about Scream Queen. I'm I'm in the credits because I forgot I uh I interviewed the filmmakers and Mark Patton who plays Jesse on my old podcast, add this to your list.

[56:21] Mark J. Parker: They were guests when that doc was coming out. And as I'm watching the doc, I'm like, wait, my name is in it. I'm like, what why am I I forgot I I donated on their like Kickstarter or Indiegogo? So check it out. It's a really well-made doc because as many people say, Nightmare two, the gay one, you know.

[56:36] Jason A. Coombs: And how did it get so gay?

[56:38] Mark J. Parker: And was it really accidental or were you were they intentional? It's just a really interesting uh doc on about filmmaking and about how a film can really uh last a test of time with with a certain audience, right?

[56:51] Jason A. Coombs: Right, yeah.

[56:52] Mark J. Parker: And um, do you remember the writer? I didn't write, of course I didn't write that down, but I think the writer is a gay man, if I'm not mistaken.

[56:58] Jason A. Coombs: Maybe I know the director said he was not gay and did not think any of it was gay.

[57:04] Mark J. Parker: Like he was totally, yeah, Jack Shoulders. Yes, Jack Shoulder, exactly. He's in that. But let me see real quick.

[57:08] Mark J. Parker: Nightmare 2 was written by let's see, a couple writers, David Chaskin, based on West Craven's characters. So maybe David Chaskin was queer. I don't know enough about that.

[57:17] Jason A. Coombs: I I think by my understanding, he is okay.

[57:21] Mark J. Parker: I don't I could be wrong, Bill. I also love Nightmare 2 because not only is it queer, but I love it because it actually is a very scary body horror sequel.

[57:31] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah.

[57:31] Mark J. Parker: Freddie is inhabiting this new young man. It's kind of like he's becoming the new Freddy. It's a genius story, I think. Great story.

[57:41] Jason A. Coombs: And and and no, Jesse's he's such an interesting character. Like I was rewatching it uh last night into this morning, uh, just because I haven't seen it in a while, and I want to make sure that I can like you know, talk about it accurately.

[57:52] Mark J. Parker: But um, you know, he just it's so funny because he goes to that and they talk about that going to that like leather bar. I'm like, why is he in this like and the weird coach the coach and like the leather uh like uh harness harness exactly i'm like this is weird and as a kid so i watched all the movies when i was a kid like fred i love that you love freddie and he's terrifying because i was terrified by freddie i watched that yeah when i was freddy at six years old for halloween and the neighbors were like how are your parents letting you watch this movie right but i remember seeing that sequel at a young age and being so confused by the leather bar the showers the spanking with the towel i'm like right this is very homorotic very and even jesse's friend the like really hot jock character and how yes and how like they're kind of touchy and they're in their short shorts and mark you know it's giving heated rivalry like I watched it yesterday I was like I was like did he did you watch I was like did he base it off this a little bit I love that you need to for this episode you need to post a cybers by side of them and the heated rivalry guys and that will go viral oh my god wow I didn't think about that you're so right because yeah they're kind of like enemies but then they become close and then like without giving anything away but like as the movie progresses as we're getting to the climax I mean like they're like touching each other like they like you know Jesse of course is spiraling and his life is crazy but he is there with shirtless uh is it is it Brady Grady what's his I think it's Grady yeah yes you know where like they're getting very close you know without you know so yeah right no it's okay and I feel like he has more chemistry with Grady than with the with the love interest they had like a kissing scene, and that was like poor love interest.

[59:34] Mark J. Parker: I'm like, oh girl, just save yourself, girl. He does not want you. It's it was given, uh, right? It's given what's his name in Glee when Chris Colfer. Did you watch Glee?

[59:45] Jason A. Coombs: I did, yeah.

[59:46] Mark J. Parker: He wasn't pretending to be straight. He was like, him and Mercedes were trying to get together.

[59:51] Jason A. Coombs: Cringe.

[59:53] Mark J. Parker: That is so funny. I was like, this is really making me uncomfortable because we have nothing. And I love her. She's a great, she's got a great look, great actress. I'm like, oh girl, just run. Just get out of there. He's got too much going on. Just get out of there. Great. And then he's like in his room dancing to like this big voice diva. It's and he's like thrusting and it's just even the first time you see him, he wakes up and he's like, I know, naked and sweaty. And I'm like, whoa, well, okay, nice to meet you. Like, yeah.

[1:00:29] Mark J. Parker: It's wild, but it really at its core, at least, without some kind of odd, strange choices from really from the director. I mean, the actor, I think he, Matt Mark Patton was, I think, doing everything he was supposed to do, right?

[1:00:40] Jason A. Coombs: Of course, yeah.

[1:00:41] Mark J. Parker: He's really, I think he, he's so believable in his, yeah, torment of what's going on, right? But yeah, without some of those odd choices, I think it's a really great sequel. Like, I actually think if I ever made a Nightmare movie, because I have like my own fan fiction idea for like, you know, and I wanted to try to make a fan film for Nightmare 2 specifically's 40th anniversary, which just happened, but I didn't get to it. But I would love, I think the next way to bring Freddie back, because Robert Englund's too old, yeah, have the same thing, basically redo Nightmare 2, but without going off the rails and like getting kind of weird, and have Freddie inhabit a new person.

[1:01:18] Mark J. Parker: And now we are getting a new Freddie, where like he lives on in this new person's body, you know. Like, I just feel like that's the best way to kind of bring it forward. That doesn't feel like, should we just make it fully queer and just like, right?

[1:01:33] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, and hey, we can still make it queer, but let's make it make sense.

[1:01:35] Mark J. Parker: Like, I don't know if we need to go to a leather bar where coach is like at the bottom. You know, I understand it's supposed to be dreamy, but now we're just getting distracted, you know. But yeah, bring back Grady, please. Let's like, you know, get right.

[1:01:51] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, I'm so bad. I mean, we can't talk about queer horror without talking about that film. So, what you just picked is like one of the top three preeminent queer. I mean, when you think of queer horror, you have to Jesse.

[1:02:03] Mark J. Parker: I named one of my gay characters in that I Know What You Did Last Summer fan film I mentioned, your last summer. I named it Jesse for him.

[1:02:09] Jason A. Coombs: Absolutely.

[1:02:10] Mark J. Parker: Right. So, yeah, you know your history, Mark.

[1:02:13] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, I thank you. I mean, I didn't, I don't really know my American or like world history, but I know my queer horror history. Don't quiz me at school, but quiz me here, okay.

[1:02:23] Mark J. Parker: I love that. Right. Who's your next one?

[1:02:27] Jason A. Coombs: Okay, well, you know what? Because you picked Jesse Walsh, played by Mark Patton, I'm gonna talk about Mark Patton some more. This is if you haven't seen those other films, you have not seen this film, Jason. And this might be a real deep cut. And I'm sorry, everybody, if you are hoping for more mainstream. This is a deep cut filmed in Maine, right near like where I live now, you know, a couple hours more north in the woods. It's a movie from 2022, maybe 2023 by the time it came out, you know, okay on streaming, but says 2022 on IMDb, Swallowed. It is a sexual gay horror film co-starring Mark Patton, starring someone who really blew up soon after this, starring, of course.

[1:03:07] Jason A. Coombs: Now I can't remember his name. Get hold, please.

[1:03:09] Mark J. Parker: Swallowed stars, Cooper Koch from Cooper.

[1:03:13] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, yes, who is a beautiful gay actor. Have you ever met him? Have you ever like interviewed him?

[1:03:17] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, we, Cooper and I go way back. We're not way back, but we did a filmmaking class.

[1:03:25] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, we did a class together.

[1:03:27] Mark J. Parker: He seems like such a great guy.

[1:03:29] Jason A. Coombs: The sweetest.

[1:03:30] Mark J. Parker: He's a sweetest. And I feel happy. I have to watch it now. Swallowed. Gotta watch Swallowed. Let's see. What is it on right now? Okay, it's streaming on Prime. If you have Amazon Prime, or you can rent it. Um, I know, I know. But it's hard to like give up the streaming. But also, I know. Um, but no, Swallowed. It is very sexy. Um, so written and directed by a gay horror filmmaker who made one of the best, not really gay horror films, although you know the camera lingers on some of the boys, which is kind of fun. But he made The Ruins. If you remember The Ruins, a really fun, gross body horror movie where friends go on vacation in like Mexico and like stumble upon these ruins that have like, you know, basically haunted vines, right?

[1:04:16] Mark J. Parker: So his name is Carter Smith. I believe he is a Mainer. He's from, yeah, he's a Maine native. I don't think he lives in Maine anymore, but he came back to Maine to film Swallowed, really small film. I remember when they were filming it, word was buzzing around here, like, oh, they're making this horror film, Carter Smith's back. I was like, how do I work on this film? Somehow I will be an unpaid PA, you know. Um, but it was a very like secret shoot, very small. When you see it again, much like What Keeps You Alive, very contained, small cast, not many locations, very woodsy, but Swallowed follows Cooper Koch's character.

[1:04:49] Mark J. Parker: He's leaving New England. We don't really, it's kind of vague. I don't, I can't remember if it's set in Maine or whatever, but it's his last night with his friend Dom, two gay guys, and Cooper Koch's character, Benjamin, is leaving to go to LA to become a gay porn star. So it's very sexual from the start. And if anyone doesn't know Carter Smith, which many people probably don't because it's not like he's, you know, a household name. If you ever follow him on social, he has a very risque Instagram where he photographs a lot of gay models in very seductive poses.

[1:05:21] Mark J. Parker: So Carter Smith is gay, gay, gay. So that's also why I'm like, I gotta figure out how to talk about him in this breakdown, right? Um, but so Cooper's character Benjamin is on the way to LA, but it's their last night in New England, and they get into some shady stuff. They are definitely, you know, they don't have money. I think it's now you probably did.

[1:05:40] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, it is, it's a little intense, but they get into some shady business, and at the border, they are forced to swallow condoms filled with what they think are drugs, they are not drugs, and that's all I'll say. And then in comes Mark Patton in a great supporting role. Jenna Malone, who was in The Ruins, she's their friend Alice, who kind of ropes them into this shady business. It's very tense. I hate drugs, I think it draw any drugs are always so intense. So they're doing this to, you know, get money to whatever, to have fun, and they realize, oh shit, it is not what they think it is.

[1:06:19] Mark J. Parker: And so it's good body horror, and Mark Patton plays a very intense role. And you see some nudity. I mean, Carter Smith does not shy away from some full frontal male nudity. So I think your boy, if I remember correctly, I think your boy Cooper shows some things, and I'll leave it at that. Happy Pride to you all. Thank you, Cooper, for your service. Uh, but yeah, check it out. It's a very gay horror movie, and it's not for the faint of heart. It's not like scarring. I mean, I saw it, it's not like I'm, it's burned into my brain, but you know, it's bloody, it's intense, it's a good indie thriller that does not get enough attention. So check it out. It's not, it's not a slasher, it's not, it's just a really good intense body horror thriller.

[1:07:03] Jason A. Coombs: So yeah, Swallowed, yeah.

[1:07:06] Mark J. Parker: And of course, the title also is just so quick. I feel like also that's a fun one to kind of, you know, yeah, all the double meanings, right?

[1:07:11] Jason A. Coombs: All the double meanings.

[1:07:17] Mark J. Parker: There you go. Almost at the end, right? I feel like I have, I have two more.

[1:07:21] Jason A. Coombs: You have two more.

[1:07:22] Mark J. Parker: I think, do I have two more? Let me see. I did, I did Hellraiser, What Keeps You Alive, Swallowed, and oh, I only have one more.

[1:07:29] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, and I did High Tension.

[1:07:31] Mark J. Parker: Wow. So you have two more.

[1:07:32] Jason A. Coombs: I have one more. Go for it.

[1:07:33] Mark J. Parker: Cool. I just want to make sure I know you know you have other things you have to do. I don't want to keep you here all night.

[1:07:38] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, yeah, no worries.

[1:07:39] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, Mr. Parker.

[1:07:41] Jason A. Coombs: Hey, I'm used to rolling from one thing to the next. So, like typically this is what happens. I can gap, and then I'm like, oh shit, I gotta go. And then I'm like, yeah, how are you? You know, um, so the second, my second to last is because this is, this is our franchise, right? This is our franchise. Like, I gotta get a shout out to Scream, and I want you back to chat about the 20th, the 30th anniversary of Scream.

[1:08:06] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, that's an episode about that.

[1:08:08] Mark J. Parker: So I would love to because I talked about it for its 25th, so I'm not gonna talk about it again. But yeah, if you want to talk about the franchise as a whole now or whatever, for three, you let me know.

[1:08:16] Jason A. Coombs: I think we're gonna have a whole episode because I can talk about Scream for days. I can make like four episodes on Scream, but I had to bring up Mindy Meeks Martin, played by Jasmine Savoy Brown. She is she slash Vake, I think, uh, she goes by they also in a second, if I'm not mistaken. But, uh, in Scream 2022, I say 2020 22.

[1:08:38] Mark J. Parker: 2022.

[1:08:40] Jason A. Coombs: Um, Scream 5, Scream Scream 5, uh, the requel reboot sequel, whatever legacy sequel. Uh, she played the first openly queer character in this about time, about time in a very queer franchise. I mean, obviously written by a queer man, but I mean, there's such innate queerness in a lot of the franchise.

[1:09:00] Mark J. Parker: So finally we get an out character, yeah.

[1:09:03] Jason A. Coombs: About time, right?

[1:09:05] Mark J. Parker: Finally, finally, and I think, you know what? She's just so cool. Like, you know, I less love Mindy, she's the niece of Randy. She is that she's kind of takes, she's like the new Randy of this generation, she's the horror, you know, she knows all about horror, she knows the tropes, she knows, she knows the genre so well, she never guesses the killer, right?

[1:09:24] Jason A. Coombs: No, you know, she does her best, but maybe, maybe in the future one she will finally like be there at the end and guess correctly and like have her like aha moment and then watch, then they'll probably kill her or something, some shot, right?

[1:09:36] Mark J. Parker: Right, but, uh, you know, she's a queer black woman, she represents, uh, the hyper protagonist that we don't get to see as much in horror, right?

[1:09:44] Jason A. Coombs: Right, so I love that for her.

[1:09:46] Mark J. Parker: I love just how unapologetic Mindy is. She's bold, she tells it like it is, she's fun. Honestly, her and Chad were like my probably my favorite part of Scream 7.

[1:09:57] Jason A. Coombs: You know, oh yeah, they were great, they were a lot of fun because I was really wondering how are we gonna bring them in? But it worked.

[1:10:03] Mark J. Parker: I and I feel like they were the most likable they've been. I mean, they both individually and together, and also in their other projects, are so likable.

[1:10:11] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, um, because I know some people at first were like Mindy's kind of annoying, she's like a know-it-all. But I've always kind of liked that energy.

[1:10:18] Mark J. Parker: Um, and also I feel like she very much is Jane is, uh, Randy's niece. Randy was the same way, you know.

[1:10:24] Jason A. Coombs: It makes sense, and I I'm glad you're specifically like focusing on her in five because that's, yeah, when we not only need her, but she is maybe her most queer.

[1:10:32] Mark J. Parker: I know she has her girlfriend Annika in six, which they're really cute together.

[1:10:37] Jason A. Coombs: She's making that with a shake in five.

[1:10:38] Mark J. Parker: She's making, yeah, like she's making eyes with that girl. That poor girl had no line, she was a featured extra, but you go, girl, you got the moment. Um, they're making out on the couch at the party, and I'm just like, yes, because how many times have we seen all the straight couples make out on the couch at these parties?

[1:10:52] Jason A. Coombs: So yeah, right.

[1:10:54] Mark J. Parker: It's all damn time. And I wanted to give a quick shout out, uh, to Kirby Reed. Because I feel like Kirby Reed was kind of the foundation of what Mindy ended up being. I feel like you can't completely celebrate Mindy without celebrating Kirby.

[1:11:09] Jason A. Coombs: And Kirby's also, even though she's not, well, we don't know for sure, but I think she kind of had a thing with one of the guys in four a little bit. They were flirting.

[1:11:17] Mark J. Parker: We don't know if she's maybe bi, but she definitely, I don't know if it was her look, her short hair, her vibe. She was not, she was always dressed, right? Definitely queer coded, and what a great character. I'm glad they brought her back for six.

[1:11:29] Jason A. Coombs: Because her death was kind of final, you know, but sort of vague in four.

[1:11:36] Mark J. Parker: So she, you know, she didn't really die, right?

[1:11:38] Jason A. Coombs: So yeah, yeah, I'm glad you're, you're kind of lumping them together because Kirby had to kind of was she kind of was like the bridge, I feel like and that's why I love their moment in six where they're like, yes, I hear you like seriously, yes.

[1:11:51] Mark J. Parker: Like, give me that an eight, bring them both back an eight, please.

[1:11:55] Jason A. Coombs: And, uh, like let's let's have more movie chat with the two girls, please, right? And then they're nice and they should be besties, I don't care, I just love seeing them together, you know, right?

[1:11:55] Mark J. Parker: Um, love that and I I just think, uh, it's about damn time, you know. I think in Scream 4 in 2011 it was like a little taste of what and then there was that one guy that was like talking about like to be to survive you basically have to be gay, right? So they were like, was that real? Like I feel like I don't even know the answer to that and then like, yeah, that the like before he went, you know, he's like wait I'm gay but he still got killed so I I don't know if that was a real rule or if he was really not, I don't know it was it that that didn't really land super well but no I completely agree and also I believe Kevin Williamson has said she is his favorite character so that's also a nice yeah special thing because obviously he's queer she's queer so yeah yeah I'm excited to see where she goes too she's a fun character for sure and I love also how she looks different in every movie because I miss that you know like those first few movies our leads always looked a little different and now they kind of look the same you know so it's nice that at least Mindy's got different hairstyles different out yeah she had the big curly hair in the first one and she went a little shorter right and the short close cropped and then the great like braids dreads she looks beautiful in seven I thought yeah she's a boy point was gorgeous great actor too yeah I can she's I can stand uh cool oh yeah okay all right it's hard to pick so I'm glad you want to do maybe some some stuff in the future um more queer horror but I'm kind of lumping a couple movies together if that's allowed yeah mostly focusing on one franchise, but I'm I'm gonna kind of shout out, and I could always save them for another time too. But I, my number one, are gay vampires.

[1:13:43] Mark J. Parker: And I say gay vampires. They're not really gay, but they're vampires already are so queer-coated, right? They are because there's such a sexuality, the whole you know, kissing, and then of course biting on the neck, biting anywhere, right? So vampires are so queer. I actually just thought of another vampire that is very gay. Um, and I'll just shout them out now in Once Bitten, which I just talked about on my pod in the fall. Once Bitten is a hilarious fun 80s comedy with Jim Carrey, and there is a great gay vampire movie.

[1:14:13] Mark J. Parker: It was one of his first roles. Um, check it out. It is such a fun movie, not scary, so not horror, but um, yeah, he falls in kind of for this older hot woman who is a vampire, and her right-hand man is this very fun, sassy gay vampire. But the ones I really wanted to focus on were I want to give a shout-out to Interview with the Vampire, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, at the kind of at the height of their beauty of their 90s like dominance, right? They're still dominating, but you know, the two of them, and how you know Tom Cruise as Lestat is already very kind of sexual and romantic, and Brad is so, so like, you know, as Louie is so kind of torn between worlds and he's got his long hair, but very kind of queer-coded, right?

Uh, especially when Lestat bites Louie and like they're flying in the air. It's like ecstasy for them both. Like, hey, you know, they're basically a couple, right? And they got the child together. They turn little Kirsten Dunst, you know, Claudia, and they are basically a gay family. Yeah, we have two dads and their daughter for life, right? So thank you.

[1:15:20] Jason A. Coombs: I haven't seen the show yet.

[1:15:23] Mark J. Parker: The show is fantastic.

[1:15:24] Jason A. Coombs: Is it good?

[1:15:25] Mark J. Parker: Okay, I got it. It's fantastic. I didn't, I used to love that movie as a young kid. It's so good. It's so good. I don't think I really understood it. Like, I don't think I got that they were gay. I just think it was like, I mean, I mean, not written fully in the 90s, right? Because it was the 90s.

[1:15:39] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah.

[1:15:40] Mark J. Parker: But this show, they're very queer. They're together in the show without a doubt.

[1:15:45] Jason A. Coombs: Interesting.

[1:15:46] Mark J. Parker: Okay. See, I gotta watch it. I know the new season's about to come out. Um, it's now called The Vampire Lestat. So this is a good time to see. One of the best seasons of TV, I think I've ever watched.

[1:15:56] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, it's I've heard nothing but great things, so I'm just super slow, you know. But uh yeah, I think this is now season three, right?

[1:16:03] Mark J. Parker: There have been two seasons.

[1:16:05] Jason A. Coombs: Okay. Wow, I love that they're actually queer.

[1:16:07] Mark J. Parker: Oh, they're very queer.

[1:16:09] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah.

[1:16:10] Mark J. Parker: Oh, okay. So yeah, I wanted to shout out those boys, and then also real quick, um, less queer, but still very, very, very queer coded. It's top of mind because I just over the weekend went to Salem for a special screening of a movie that is very, very, very hard to find, Fright Night Part Two. So there's both in the 80s, Fright Night One and Two, even Fright Night, less queer, but so queer. Chris Sarandon plays Jerry, the vampire, classic horror comedy. And I mean, he is like looking at our lead boy. Um, oh god, I can't remember his name, but played by William Ragsdale, but like just vampires are just so innately gay. So there's a lot of like sexy looks and like biting and all that. But in Fright Night Part Two, there is a very queer coded, doesn't say a word of dialogue, but I want to tell you real quick who plays him.

He roller skates, which when I was a kid and saw it, I was like, Oh my god, this is terrifying. Because he also has long hair, he's very androgynous. So as a kid, I'm like, and he's a person of color, beautiful skin, cheekbones for days. Played by okay, Russell Clark, who is a choreographer, plays Belle. So it's interesting, a feminine name, masculine features. But in Fright Night Part 2, he is sort of our new lead vampire's right-hand man, like the number two in the clan of vampires. But yeah, roller skates, long nails, long hair, lots of sensual fighting. So just wanted to shout out the Fright Night franchise from the 80s, like those original movies, very queer-coded. And then the sequel, we get a truly queer actor who is serving.

I mean, such glam looks. It's fun, it's a little more campy than the first one. Um, yeah, so yeah, we're kind of going full circle with me with scary movie, going back to kind of comedy. But right, just very, very gay and just loving kind of the beauty of um just sort of a queer androgynous kind of vibe, you know. And like I said, in the first one, Chris Sarandon, who's not your typical kind of sexy guy. Sometimes he's shirtless and looking through the window at our lead actor, and I'm just like okay, you know. So yeah, just shouting out the Fright Night fam. So that's my last one.

[1:18:25] Jason A. Coombs: That's such a fantastic, fantastic uh wrap-up. Because I was looking and I was going to put Interview the Vampire, but I love the show a little bit more than the movie, I think.

[1:18:37] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, I bet that's what I think. It sounds like a version of this.

[1:18:40] Jason A. Coombs: Yes, so okay, then you know what? If we ever do more queer horror, now I'll watch the show, and we could probably talk. We could probably talk for days just on vampires. I mean, there's so even The Forsaken that just turned 20, or that just turned 25 from 2001.

[1:18:54] Mark J. Parker: I've never seen that, and like there's no outright gayness, but it is so queer. All the guys are looking at each other. Again, vampires, right? Vampires are just so bisexual, you know?

[1:19:05] Jason A. Coombs: I love that for them.

[1:19:08] Mark J. Parker: Right. Well, to make it truly full circle, uh, we're gonna end with our fame with the original Scream 1986. You brought up Ray and Scary Movie. Ray and what was his the other one in Scream Movie? Uh, I'm pretty sure. Is it still Billy? Let me look real fast.

[1:19:25] Jason A. Coombs: Bobby, it's Bobby.

[1:19:27] Mark J. Parker: Yep. Uh, Ray and Bobby are so funny. Are the new Billy and Stu, Billy Loomis and Stu Mocker, you know. One of the most discussed, queer-coded relationships in horror history. Many truly, I mean, when you think of a bromance, you think of those two. Is it what's going on there? And I'm so glad you're talking about these two because I think I want to do another Scream fan film for its 30th this year. And I actually I think I want to do a prequel that shows what we didn't see, where Roman meets with Billy and Stu, talks about the cheating, and maybe Billy and Stu, like Stu comforts Billy with this knowledge of yeah, what's going on, and maybe there's a kiss. Like, I kinda I want to make it gay. So I'm so glad we are talking about those two.

[1:20:14] Jason A. Coombs: Do it, yeah.

[1:20:15] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, I mean, I just think they're just um, you know, we use the word iconic so much. I mean, it's the I do, but they really are iconic.

[1:20:19] Jason A. Coombs: But they really are, yeah.

[1:20:23] Mark J. Parker: Their chemistry is so playful, they're intimate, like you know, at the end during the big finale, like Stu is all over Billy and a head on the shoulder, right? Like they are shoulder. Almost felt like we don't see their hands, but the way Stu rests his head on Billy's shoulder in that iconic moment, you know, during the big reveal, it almost feels like his hand would be on Billy's waist. Like it feels like they're they're like hugging each other.

[1:20:45] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, it's pretty amazing.

[1:20:47] Mark J. Parker: And it's funny because Matthew Lillard and Skeet have said at conventions that they're like, Yeah, I think they were probably kind of gay, like they were doing stuff, you know what I mean. Figuring it out, you know.

[1:20:55] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, I love that for them.

[1:20:59] Mark J. Parker: I love that they're kind of because Scream is such a monumental, I think, horror film for many in our generation. We're similar in age, you know. I feel like um it makes sense, right? It makes sense that they're kind of like the prototype of a queer coded uh you called it a romance, but yeah, you know, I think I think it's fantastic, and there's so much energy between them. A movie I never get tired of. I could watch that movie every day.

[1:21:23] Jason A. Coombs: I never get tired of it.

[1:21:25] Mark J. Parker: They're doing a trilogy screening in June. Um, at the Mahonig Drive In in Pennsylvania, which I've never been, but I hear such cool things about that drive-in. I hear I am like uh June 20th, Saturday, June 20th. As soon as the sun goes down, I know that's Bridgeport Pride. But hey, you could always go, you could always drive after Pride because it will start at like eight or nine p.m.

[1:21:47] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, right.

[1:21:48] Mark J. Parker: That's the first movie, and they're showing one, two, and three. So you could always get there, and then you know, I doubt you would ever want to do that after your busy day.

[1:21:54] Jason A. Coombs: You never know.

[1:21:54] Mark J. Parker: You never know.

[1:21:55] Jason A. Coombs: So tempting here. I am like, okay, how can I get to Pennsylvania and stay up late, right? To see movies I've seen a hundred times, right? But no, I'm glad you're talking about them because it's it really is so smart and it adds to such an already memorable movie. That like here's this reveal that it's these friends of hers that she's known for years, probably, right? She grew up with these guys. She's obviously dating her boyfriend, you know, her boyfriend, and then here's her like friend that like is such a dummy, and it's like, oh my god, and that, yeah, like some guys, especially like European guys, are very touchy and all over each other. So that just adds this very scary thing that they're so casual, revealing this brutal thing that they've been doing, right?

That they're just hanging on each other, like, yeah, you're gonna die, right? And they're smiling and they're kind of touchy. And then, of course, the stabbing is so disturbing, but also it's kind of sexual, right? Penetratey. Is that a word? Penetratey.

[1:22:53] Mark J. Parker: I like it.

[1:22:53] Jason A. Coombs: There we go. Happy pride, happy penetrate.

[1:22:57] Mark J. Parker: Right, penetrate. But it is. I mean, it's penetrating pride. Let's talk about. I mean, right? I remember in a one of my, well, not even one of my favorite college class at Fordham was a horror class. And I remember reading Carol Clover in the 70s, this book all about slashers and how the knife represents the penis. How slashers are often kind of like it's kind of like a metaphor for rape. The girl typically running from typically a man who can overpower her and stab her. It's you know, and here we have these two guys who are very kind of queer-coded in this moment, stabbing each other. How they planned this and planned it, but it hurts. It's just you know, it's interesting, it's really interesting, and it works. What is so special about it is it works on so many levels. If you don't want to view them as queer, then it absolutely still works, right?

[1:23:46] Mark J. Parker: Right, yeah, yeah.

[1:23:48] Jason A. Coombs: I love that.

[1:23:49] Mark J. Parker: No, they are they yeah, you nailed it. Thank you. Thank you for going on that little journey with me. I don't want to, I don't want to take your words away. Sorry, I just no, no, that's perfect. No, no. I think you know, I think I said enough with the penetrate the penetration. Yeah, I mean, that word alone. Wow, that should just be the title of this episode. Penetrate pride. Um, thank you, thank you for indulging me in that list. I know we're almost at time, but really quickly, I just want to ask you, what have you been watching recently? Any really good horror films? They don't have to be queer coded. Just just give me what you've been watching.

[1:24:23] Mark J. Parker: Oh well, I feel like I love this question. I feel like we've been we we're like having a horror time at the movie theater this month. There's like lots of good stuff. I've just seen Obsession and I just saw Passenger. Passenger is very straight. Obsession is very straight, of course, but it is so nice to see that the lead actor playing straight. I didn't realize until after I saw the movie. He's openly gay. What a cutie. Yes, I did not realize I didn't really know him that well. But I mean, how can you be alive and not be talking about Obsession? Especially as entertainment lovers and as horror lovers. What a movie. Oh my god. And I'm so jealous of these young filmmakers because Backrooms is about to come out as of this recording. That kid's only like 24 or something. Curry Barker's like 26. I'm like, God damn it, you know.

[1:25:06] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, yeah.

[1:25:08] Mark J. Parker: Great stuff. I've been watching that on the TV side. I just started watching Widows Bay on Apple TV, which is a fun, creepy, kind of creepy comedy. Um, and then also Margot's Got Money Trouble, also on Apple TV with Michelle Pfeiffer, who will just always be the best of the best of the best. And she had a new show out. I love Michelle Pfeiffer.

[1:25:28] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, if you if you have Apple TV or want to get like a trial, check out those shows. And also Apple TV shows just look so good. But yeah, one's like a dramedy, that's the Margot one. Um, all about like being a young mom, you know, it's stuff we've seen before, but there's something really magnetic about it with the with these actors. And then Widows Bay is just a fun New England ghosty. I don't know too much. I can't uh the first episode is so vague. I don't know what's going on, but there's the fog and something's wrong. And uh yeah, so I've been watching those.

[1:25:58] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, I love that.

[1:25:59] Mark J. Parker: And scary movie too. I love it. I love an old rewatch, you know. So with my pod, I spend so much time rewatching old stuff. So but I love it. I feel like a lot of the music is crap, you know.

[1:26:10] Jason A. Coombs: You gotta come back. You haven't been on in like two years already.

[1:26:12] Mark J. Parker: I know I can't believe that's no, yeah.

[1:26:15] Jason A. Coombs: I know time.

[1:26:16] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, Mean Girls was your last one.

[1:26:18] Jason A. Coombs: Mean Girls is my last one.

[1:26:19] Mark J. Parker: Plug the pod again, please.

[1:26:20] Jason A. Coombs: Plug your Release Date Rewind.

[1:26:22] Mark J. Parker: Thank you so much, Jason, for having me. Uh yeah, my pod is Release Date Rewind. Usually on average, two episodes a month, but sometimes I'm busy, you know, like podcasting. Never the full-time gig. But uh yeah, as of this recording, my latest episodes are She's the Man and Josie and the Pussycats. Um, I talk about old movies on their milestone anniversaries. Um, later in June, I'm doing a whole Tom Cruise thing because he has so many movies that are like so popular, having big anniversaries this year, especially Top Gun and Mission Impossible, uh and Legend. I love Legend from the 80s. So that and then man, I haven't been planning too far in advance. I kind of just go month to month, but a Labyrinth is coming up from the 80s. Um god, just so many all decades.

So yeah, you can find me on Instagram. Uh 96 is oh my god, that was so big. I talked about Romeo and Juliet, Leo, that was a big one. Yeah, um, Set It Off with Jada and Queen Latifah. I might talk about that. That was a big invite me to that one. I need to realize if I talk about that, I'll let you know. Because 96, yeah, that that was I think.

[1:27:29] Jason A. Coombs: I love that as a kid. I don't know why we were watching that as like kids. That was heavy, but god, it was such a big deal, you know.

[1:27:36] Mark J. Parker: Yeah, so yeah, yeah.

[1:27:38] Jason A. Coombs: Oh.

[1:27:38] Mark J. Parker: So you can follow me at Release Date Rewind and at MJP underscore P-O-V. That's my film page. Um, always happy to talk about this stuff. We could we could talk for hours about more all sorts of things. It doesn't even have to be queer, but it should be.

[1:27:51] Jason A. Coombs: Right, right.

[1:27:52] Mark J. Parker: Oh, I love that, Mark. You're fantastic. Thank you. Thank you for spending time with me today. For those of you who are Mark fans who may not know about Where the Light Lands Pod, is your first introduction. You can follow me at Where the Light Lands Pod. Also I'm Jason A. Coombs, Coombs with U O's on Instagram and all the social media things. Mark, again, you're amazing. I'm gonna have you back. You need to be back.

[1:28:14] Mark J. Parker: I love chatting with you, Jason. You're the best.

[1:28:16] Jason A. Coombs: I'm chatting with you. That's great. So yeah, we'll be doing this more, I hope.

[1:28:20] Mark J. Parker: Soon.

[1:28:20] Jason A. Coombs: Yes, definitely. Have a wonderful pride season. Good luck on your films. Keep making, keep creating.

[1:28:26] Mark J. Parker: You too.

[1:28:29] Jason A. Coombs: Thank you.

[1:28:30] Mark J. Parker: Trying.

[1:28:31] Jason A. Coombs: Trying to be.

[1:28:32] Mark J. Parker: It's tough, girl.

[1:28:33] Jason A. Coombs: I mean, geez, right?

[1:28:35] Mark J. Parker: It's tough being an artist, right? Especially indie.

[1:28:37] Jason A. Coombs: Yes.

[1:28:37] Mark J. Parker: But yes, happy pride, everybody. What a fun time. Let's just let's just let the positivity in and let the positivity out and the negativity can hit the road.

[1:28:40] Jason A. Coombs: Hit the road.

[1:28:49] Mark J. Parker: Thank you, everybody. Bye.